Monthly Archives: December 2011

In 2002, the first Iron Distance Triathlon (3.8km swim/180km bike/42.2km run) in the Philippines was held in Matabungkay Batangas, called the Phil Irondistance 2002. It was organized by First Wave Tri (Raul Cuevas, Ricky Ledesma, Lito Fugoso). The second one was put up a year after, called the Enduraman, organized by Karlo Magpayo and co, held in Subic Bay Philippines.

After a long wait, on Dec 3 this year, the third race of this distance finally came into fruition, and was organized yet again by Raul Cuevas and Bike King. Known as TIMEX 226 because of the total combined distances of the swim bike and run legs, it is the first title sponsorship and banner event of Timex Philippines for a triathlon race (although Timex has been active in sponsoring runs and triathlons both here in the Phils. and abroad).

Anda Beach in Bohol proved to be a beautiful venue, and Governor Art Yap was an equally welcoming host to the 66 participants. There were 63 males and 3 females, mostly Filipino racers with two Singaporeans in the mix. A total of 6 local teams supported the event, namely Timex TMM (14), Bike King (4), Polo Tri (3), Quest 825 (7), Tri North (3), and Sport Spray (3).

Here are some more quick facts about the race:

Some of the highly respected names in the triathlon community who joined are Arland Macasieb of Filamtri/ Athlete Octane, Alvin Alindogan of Timex TMM, August Benedicto of PMI, and Neil Catiil of Timex TMM, .

Aside from Alvin, Rommel Fernandez of 7-eleven Multi Sport Team and Omar Paredes of Herbalife are Timex226 participants who were also present in the 2002 Phil Iron distance race.

The after-party hosted by Congressman Art Yap was a blast. Bottomless beer, crabs, lechon, barbecue, chicken, and more were served. Among the prizes for the party games were Timex watches, free hotel accommodations in Anda, and free entry to next year’s Bohol Triathlon.

Second to the last finisher was Jun Cunanan of Timex TMM. He arrived 30 min ahead of Luis Arcangel, the last finisher, but decided to wait for Luis at the finish line. The two of them then crossed the finish line together.

Alvin Alindogan, who took 1st place in his age category, slowed down only 19 minutes in his finish time in a span of 9 years since the Matabungkay triathlon.

Participant Edgar Villar AKA ‘Boy Power’, 61 years of age, biked from Davaoto CDO, CDO to Boholport in Tagbilaran to get to the race venue. He also biked his way to Anda the day before the race! He finished 3rd in his age group.

Neil Catiil had to drop out of the race because he collapsed in the 1st loop of the run course. His body was rejecting his nutrition, and he was 2nd to Arland in leading the race when he dropped out.

A respectful salute and hearty congratulations to our newly-forged Timex 226 Iron Men and Women! And a big pat on the back to the organizers, Bike King, Timex Philippines and the Sponsors. See you all next year!

Last year’s inaugural event had the largest spectator crowd in XTERRA history with thousands lining the bike and run courses, kids running with the athletes, and high school cheerleaders in uniform waving the athletes on.

“You just got so much energy from the cheering of the community,” said women’s winner Shonny Vanlandingham. “The kids who watched the bike and run part of the race were chanting and cheering. It’s great to come to a place like the Philippines.”

New this year will by a half-distance XTERRA Lite race and 5k, 10k, and 21k trail runs to go along with the championship.

“What a place, what a day, what a race. The province of Cebu put on one hell of a show,” said XTERRA managing director “Kahuna Dave” Nicholas said after last year’s inaugural event.

“Saturday night Cebu put on a State dinner for the competitors that was beyond spectacular. We were met by hundreds of local dancers in costumes representing their cities, music playing, fabulous colors in a festival for the eyes. At dinner, with gobs of local delicacies, each of the dance troupes performed skits about their cities. It was simply fabulous.”

Getting to Cebu is easy either direct or through Manila. The hotels and resorts are great, prices are inexpensive and it is a shoppers paradise. The food is different and delicious, the beer is cold and tasty. The race course is not too difficult and not too easy – the whole event is just about perfect.

Kick off your season in style! You can race every weekend for 3 weeks in the Pacific. XTERRA Guam (www.xterraguam.com) is the weekend before on March 8, and XTERRA Saipan (www.saipansports.com) is the weekend after on March 24. All three have World Championship slots, pro prize money, and a guaranteed good time.

Dash is more than a week old now and am happy to report that Mom and Dad survived the maddening 1st week! To say that parenting is a serious job is a gross understatement… let’s start with my delivery, which I believe should be a separate blog entry in itself –but then a new mom only has so much time in her hands!

I had an epidural-free water birth at home, an option I felt most comfortable with. It was a decision that I had to stick with, even in my last hour of labour, which took a total of 25hours. Yes, that long, partly because Dash came out a whopping 9lbs!!! It was pain beyond my imagination, but believe me when I say I did not even entertain getting anesthesia, as I wanted to be really involved in the process, no matter how excruciatingly hard it turned out to be…no race on earth could ever compare to that. TRUST ME. If you don’t, ask my husband, who has done the Ultraman World Championships in Hawaii, which consists of a 10k swim, 421k bike, and 84k run (he placed 8th). To this day he is still in shock about the whole birthing ordeal, haha. He was my rock till the very end though, even when he almost passed out after he saw Dash’s big head come out from underwater. When Deborah, our American midwife, asked if he wanted to cut the umbilical cord, he could not even move his mouth to form any words!

After that it is a big blur of waking up in the middle of the night a couple of times, breastfeeding (ouch. OUCH!!!), changing diapers, bathing, morning strolls, burping, rocking, singing, lots of crying and lots of smiles and laughter. And here we are.

I write this blog in a hurry while Dash is having his afternoon nap, and it took me umm, 3 hours to make him fall asleep. Obviously we are still trying to get the hang of parenting, but we are fully committed. How can we not be? We are totally smitten with our boy, and am praying that we will be able to raise him well.

Here are pictures of Dash’s first week, and some of our visitors…. thank you for your love always!

As I mentioned a few posts before I had the wonderful opportunity to help the Shiphrah Birthing Center raise funds for the purchase of their home, and as a perk I get to have these photos taken by Photographer Stanley Ong. Our shoot actually took place two days before I gave birth, perfect timing! I posted two photos earlier, and here are the rest…